Fire on Ice
by CanadianChick07
Summary: A look at Special Agent Lara Macy and Callen's first meeting in Russia and a brief glimpse of her career at NCIS. Operations in Europe with Vance, Hetty and Callen and meetings with Mike Franks. As well as Macy's recruitment of Renko, Sam and Kensi.
1. Chapter 1

**AN: I don't own NCIS: LA. If I did, I'd be rich.  
>And in this, it's around 1996. Macy and Callen's first meeting.<br>**

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><p>She was good at her job. No, she was damn good at her job and she knew that. Special Agent Lara Macy was one of those people who were born for undercover work, and her line of work at NCIS gave her that. Gave her the opportunity to shine. And that she did.<p>

The problem Macy had was her attitude. She was going to get what she wanted and damned if anybody stood in her way. Currently she was undercover in Russia. God, she hated this country, with an absolute passion. Corruption, deception, what else was there? The Cold War might be over, but there was still people who needed to be looked after, in the slightest terms.

She had a partner in this dreaded operation. One might even consider it a suicide mission but Lara Macy was determined to make it out alive. Her partner was Austin Willis and they were undercover as Angela and Cody Davenport. Cody was working for a huge oil company, on the rigs, and Angela was going to school in Saint Petersburg, to finish her Master's degree. It was a long term op, but a dangerous one. This oil company that Cody was working for had suspected ties to the mafia, actually they had confirmed there was ties. And the company was suspected of having "connections", aka kickbacks to several key members in the newly democratic Russian government. Angela's role was to get close to the Russian Finance Minister's daughter, Katya, who was married to the head of a different mafia. Katya was in the same program as Angela was. The mafia that Katya's husband, Dimitry, wasn't just a regular crime syndicate who ruled the streets of Saint Petersburg, they had ties to members of the Los Enemgio Cartel. Los Enemigo Cartel was moving up the chain of drug cartels in Mexico. So one could see why the government wanted to chop the head of the mafia. Russian's and a Mexican alliance was not good.

Macy often wondered why NCIS was involved. They had become involved after a US sailor was killed on leave while in Marseille, France. Special Agents Gibbs and Shepard had taken "care" of the killer but from there they had realized the killer was a member of the Russian mafia and that's where NCIS decided it was a good thing to have eyes and ears in Saint Petersburg, where there was a lot of corruption going on. Macy spoke fluent Russian and Ukrainian, her grandmother who had lived with her parents was from Kursk, Russia. Austin Willis, well Macy had no idea where he learned the language. All she knew was from his agent file that had some redacted files in it. What good redacted did to Macy.

It was a cold night in Saint Petersburg, actually well… fucking cold. That's how Macy would describe it. She came from Texas and living north of whatever parallel it was, was not what she was liking.

"You do clean up good," Austin commented to Macy as she applied lipstick in the bathroom of their small apartment, in a more wealthy part of the city.

The look Macy gave him was a pure ice cold. "You know you came with the title "Ice Princess?" Austin commented after the look.

"Who gave me that?" Macy asked, as she re-adjusted her hair and turned off the light.

"People," Austin replied.

They, Cody and Angela, were going to a "party", hosted by Cody's boss. Basically they'd be sipping expensive vodka, which was not Macy's idea of a great time. However, the who's who of people would be attending this party and they could gain vital information.

Macy was sitting on a couch when a guy approached her. She was trying to mind her own business. To most people, she looked like Cody's much younger wife, who knew no Russian and with Macy's blonde hair, appeared "ditzy." Ha. She knew Russian and she was far from ditzy.

"Good party," the man said in English.

Macy threw him a look and tried to study him. Hard to read. He did not look Russian. But she replied in the native language, "I guess. If you like sipping expensive vodka."

"I gather you don't like vodka?"

She shrugged. "More of a beer girl myself."

The man inched closer and whispered in her ear. "I know who you are, Lara Macy."


	2. Chapter 2

**AN: I don't own NCIS:LA. If I did, Callen and Nell would be together and Kensi and Deeks. But I'm just going to play with one of my favorite characters, Callen, and a character I wish they explored more into, Lara Macy. **

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><p>Suddenly, it wasn't just ice in her veins. It was fire, and it was red hot. And it was burning. She turned to the man that had just "burned" her and whispered back in his ear. "You have it wrong. Angela Davenport. Agent?" She stopped for a name. She was pretty sure of that. To know her name, he would have had to have some high connections. NCIS had made sure her and Austin's cover stories were very well backstopped.<p>

But he wasn't going to give her one. He leaned over again. "Born in Hawaii, to Major General Frank Macy and Laura Macy. You have 3 brothers, one who's in the Army med corps, one who's a Major in the Corps and the other a SEAL."

She took a drink of the vodka in her glass. Actually, she just downed it and the man passed her another glass. She wasn't kidding when she said she hated vodka, but she would need a lot of alcohol if this man kept at it. "So, you know who I am. Who are you?"

"That doesn't matter."

"You burned me. How am I supposed to know if my cover isn't compromised?" Macy fired back. Oh she was downright pissed. Shit was going to go down.

The man looked at her and leaned in again. "I won't. I promise. You can trust me."

"Ha. As if I'm going to trust you."

"I wouldn't be trusting your partner, too much though," he replied to her last comment. He took a glass of vodka from the waitress that past. Their whole conversation was in English and that bugged Macy. A lot. Actually this whole fucking conversation bugged her.

Macy gave him a look that she had given Austin earlier in the bathroom. One of pure disgust. "Good thing I don't." It was true. She didn't trust her partner, at all. Well, she didn't trust many people out there. Maybe her father and brothers.

Austin Willis was obviously an okay agent, or he wouldn't be on this mission. But then again, maybe that was the Director's plan. See who his allegiance's really lied with. It wasn't the redacted files in his file that bugged Macy, because every agent who was on a suicide mission like this was bound to have half of their files redacted. By whomever redacts things like that. But call it a gut feeling, she didn't trust him worth shit.

"Good. Keep it that way," and with that, the man, agent, whoever the hell he was, got up and walked away. Macy kept an eye on him and he visited with a couple people, and then quietly slipped out. Yeah, she was pissed. She wanted to know if her cover had been burned, or if this was his way of "looking out for her."

To be fair, Macy probably wouldn't have believed his "advice" on her partner if he had just come up and said don't trust him. But why tell her that? Why tell her that she couldn't or shouldn't trust her partner? She was a big girl, she could handle herself. She wasn't a complete rookie, and obviously NCIS trusted her to do a good job.

Every instinct told Macy to get out of this place. Well, her instinct's told her that this whole op was a bust anyways. It was a good idea, but there were people behind the scenes pulling strings, making sure that the op wasn't going to work.

So, she walked over to Austin. "Honey, I'm getting tired. I think we should go."

Austin took a look around the room. "I guess. What's wrong? You look like you saw a ghost."

"Oh nothing. Just not feeling well," Macy lied. She had made it up in her mind that she wasn't going to tell Austin about the little conversation with whoever the hell he was. She labeled him "whoever the hell he was", in her mind. She honestly felt like it was a warning to not trust her partner, not a warning that her cover was blown all to hell. Although at this point in the game, she wanted that cover blown. She hated this place.

She took Austin's hand as they walked out of the building. Maybe it was the warning the guy gave her, but, Macy couldn't place what she was feeling. Something was amiss. Austin seemed way too cheerful for her liking. Like he had made a deal with someone. Or made a deal with the devil. One of the two.


	3. Chapter 3

**AN: Don't own NCIS: LA. Wish I did, though.  
>This story has been a little hard to right just because Macy's character wasn't that detailed so I'm making this up as I go! So I hope this turns out okay!<strong>

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><p>In bed, Macy was devising plans in her head. Worst case scenarios were popping up in her head left, right and center. Her nightmares were of her pulling the trigger on someone. Except every time she woke up, she never got to see the face that she was shooting at. Or killing. That was bugging her. Hell, everything was bugging her.<p>

In her mind, this "op" was put together very quickly. And although Macy had been apart of NCIS for a short time, she didn't know the people who had planned it; therefore didn't trust them. Her father had told her when she was very little: "Trust no one, until they give you a reason to." Frank Macy had risen to the ranks of Major General and acquired a few enemies in his time. And his little girl had done the same thing.

Maybe it was paranoia after the conversation with "whoever the hell he was," but Macy tried to think of the briefings of the op. The file they had on this Russia mafia connection to the oil company was solid, and the evidence of kickbacks and other corruption was viable. However, it was Macy's part of the op that she was worried about. There was a very thin file on Dmitry Vonakov. The Vonakov family was a Russian crime family that had ties from Ireland, Chechnya, Venezuela, to the Sudan and everywhere in between. The problem was WHAT ties Dmitry had to the family, how far up the totem pole, and how much leverage he really had. Another problem was, is who did they pay off for there to be such a thin file? Somebody like Dmitry Vonakov would have a pretty decent sized file on them. Certainly the CIA had a file on him, but why send somebody in NCIS to this?

That was the question on Macy's mind as she tossed and turned. The Vonakov family was paying somebody off to have such a thin file and for whatever reason, have NCIS investigate. The US Navy sailor, Petty Officer First Class James Russell, who had been killed had ties to the Russian mafia in the oil company, because his brother-in-law was part of it. Mafia found out that Russell had been "talking" about his recent, and very suspicious, trips to Russia and well, they wanted the leak to be gone. However, there was no reason for NCIS to be investigating the Vonakov family.

But Macy was young, a little naïve, determined to prove herself, and that was probably why she was part of this suicide mission. The Russian Finance Minister was beyond corrupt and everybody knew that, and his daughter Katya Petrova Vonakova, was a good way to get in. Macy knew that. But in reality, the CIA should be investigating. Sure, the Vonakov family were wanted by the International Criminal Court in Hague for their human trafficking and, well, every other illegal activity they participated in, as well as their suspected ties to the Bosnian War; but the ICC had never been able to get anything to stick. And if Macy was put in, for whatever reason, to try and gather proof of all of this, she'd be killed too. The Vonakov family had nose-bleed connections and killing an American federal agent would not be a problem.

Oh and the ties to the Los Enemigo Cartel? Sketchy, at best. Sure, intelligence analysts from CIA, DIA, NSA, DEA, etc. were getting more and more information daily but there was not enough information to send a NCIS agent undercover, in Saint Petersburg, Russia. And she had no handler out here, on her first deep undercover operation. Hiding a phone call to Washington, D.C. was really possible when deep undercover. Not. Austin and Macy had the field office in Paris that they kept in touch with, but there was no backup, no instructions, just orders "find information." Yeah, something was amiss.

It was 3 am and Macy slipped out of the bed she shared with Austin. It was a one bedroom apartment and for the first week they had been there, Austin slept on the couch but they figured they mind as well share the bed.

She opened the safe she kept in the bathroom closet, hidden by towels. She took it down and opened it. In there was cash, about $5,000 American, satellite phone and some guns she had bought on the black market. Could never be too careful. And three fake passports, as well as the passport NCIS gave her with the name Angela Davenport on it.

Macy took out the three fake passports- one from Canada, another from Britain and the other from Germany. Name was different on all of them. She took a second look at the one from Canada, with the name **Maci Smith **on it. She tapped her fingers on the bathroom vanity, swallowed hard and put it back in the safe and put the safe where it was.

She made herself a cup of tea and flipped on the TV to see what was on. Nothing was on, so she decided to read for awhile. It was 4 30 am by the time she slipped into bed again.

"Couldn't sleep?" Austin asked, voice laden with sleep.

"Sorry for waking you," Macy replied as she pulled the covers up and snuggled under them.

Austin turned around to face her. "Whatcha thinkin' about?"

"Home." Big fat lie.

"Where's home for you?"

Macy rolled over so she also faced Austin. "Wessington Springs, South Dakota," she lied, again. Her father's sister was from there and she had been there a couple times. Small town in the middle of BFE, South Dakota. Ranching country. "You?"

"Dayton, Ohio."

She was pretty sure that was a lie as well, but rolled over and Austin did the same thing. She faced the wall, he faced the window. All she needed was to prove that Austin Willis was dirty and she'd burn him. Her Marine Corps MP training might just be coming in handy because she was going to investigate her partner, albeit in a hush-hush way.

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><p><strong>The next chapter is going to have a very interesting and unexpected character come into it, one that people will most likely know from NCIS. (And it's not Hetty)<strong>


	4. Chapter 4

**AN: I don't own NCIS or NCIS: LA.  
>I had a little bit of insomnia last night, and was watching old NCIS episodes (Hiatus Part 1&amp;2 and Judgement Day) and this plot bunny entered my head and I just had to write it. I hope I did this character justice. <strong>

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><p>Macy was on her way home from class two weeks later. She decided to walk because the university was not far. Gave her time to think. She hadn't been able to gather much intel on Austin and whatever he was up to. She did overhear him talking to someone, saying that "he'd give him the money tomorrow." That was all she had.<p>

Suddenly a man pushed her from behind and into a doorway. Macy reached for her gun but instead, looked up and took her hand away from her gun. She couldn't believe her eyes. "What the fuck are you doing here?"

"What the fuck are you doing here?" He snapped back.

Macy stared at him. "I'm on assignment. You quit." The words came out of her mouth like ice. He was not who she wanted to see in Russia. He was a long way from home.

"Retired."

"Quit. Franks, what the fuck are you doing here?"

Macy still had nowhere to go. Former Special Agent Mike Franks was blocking her exit. "Where I come from, women don't talk like that."

She glared at him. "Forget that I was a Marine, Franks?"

"Once a Marine, always a Marine," Franks said a little more gently. He looked up again. "Gibbs still hates your guts."

"I did what I felt was right. You didn't answer my question. What are you doing in Saint Petersburg, Russia?"

Franks looked behind him to make sure nobody was coming. "I heard some stuff about the Los Enemigo Cartel having ties to the mafia. Wanted to see if it was right. Can't trust anybody back there anymore."

"No, you can't." Macy knew Franks quit because nobody would take him seriously about Bin Laden, and in result of the intelligence community sitting on their asses, the Khobar Towers incident happened.

"What does that mean?" Franks asked gruffly.

Macy wasn't stupid. She wasn't going to be spreading information about an ongoing operation but Mike Franks could keep a secret and he might have some tips for the agent. She was desperate and he could be trusted. The man had a good reputation and her father, Major General Frank Macy, had served with Franks in the Marine Corps. "Can I go? We can walk back to my apartment."

Franks seemed to forget that he was literally pinning Macy to the wall. "Yeah, sure."

Macy looked at the former, and well respected, agent as they started walking. "Two weeks ago, I was at a party. Who's who of politicians. Some guy came up to me and told me to not trust my partner. He also said my name. My real name, not my alias."

"Who was it?"

"I don't know."

"You don't know? What's your partner's name?"

"Classified."

"Do you want my help or not? Because from where I'm looking, you need it."

Macy took a deep breath as they crossed the street. "Special Agent Austin Willis."

"Oh."

"You know him?"

Franks just nodded his head. "So, this guy who came up to you at the party? Somebody in this op isn't keeping secrets."

"He spoke fluent Russian and seemed to know people at the party. He's not Russian. He's another agent, I can tell you that much. With what agency, I have no idea. Call it my gut, but it seemed like a warning to not trust my partner, not that my cover was blown all to hell."

"Do you trust your partner?"

Macy shook her head and exhaled. She could see her breath this cold November afternoon. "Hell no."

"What do you have on him?"

"Suspicions. I shouldn't be telling you this but he's working for an oil company. Kickbacks, corruption, you name it. Several people have been suspected of having ties to the mafia. Get in to the mafia, get proof, get out. Simple. But, it's been 5 weeks and Austin Willis doesn't have any proof. Or proof that I've seen anyways. Considering I'm the one making phone calls to the Paris field office, I haven't seen any."

Franks nodded as they climbed the steps to the apartment. "And your part of the op?"

Macy gave him a look as she unlocked her door and let Franks in. A look that said she wasn't about to tell.

"Next time I head for that door, it won't be for show," Franks said. Macy had a feeling that was Mike Franks' "line."

Macy swallowed. "Get close to the Russian Finance Minister's daughter. Who happens to be married to Dmitry Vonakov. Of the Vonakov family. The suspected ties to the Los Enemigo Cartel."

Franks whistled. "The Vonakov family? Do you even know what kind of stuff they've been doing? They are one of the most awful families out there." Franks stopped and looked around. "If they find out there is a NCIS agent undercover trying to find proof of their crimes, you will be killed."

"I know."

He sat in a chair in the dining room and looked at her. "Do you have a plan?"

Macy shrugged. "Want coffee?" Franks shook his head. She took a sip of her own. "Find the information, get out."

Franks shook his head. "Macy. I know your father, and you are your father's daughter, but I didn't think you were that stupid."

She gave him another glare. "I'm not stupid, Mike. My plan is to find the information and why the fuck this op isn't working. Find proof that my fucking partner is dirty and who they're paying off back in DC."

He seemed to be okay with that answer. "They're obviously paying somebody off."

"No shit, Mike."

He shifted in his chair and tried to light a cigarette but Macy gave him another death glare. Not in her apartment. "So what are you going to do?"

"Three fake passports, cash, some guns, and a satellite phone in a safe."

"Good girl."

"My turn, Mike. Why are you in Russia? You don't work for NCIS anymore. You quit, I mean retired."

Mike seemed to know it was his turn to start talking. "I moved down to a little place south of Mulege and there has been chatter at the local cantina. Some guys came in there the other day and told everybody to get the fuck out. I hid the women and children and hid behind a back wall. Drug deal. Left with eight people dead."

Macy had never heard Mike Franks talk that much. "You found out they were the up and coming Los Enemigo Cartel."

"I heard them talking about a lady named Atonida and how she needed the cash."

"Atonida Kolenchova Vonakova. Head of the Vonakov family."

Mike nodded. "Heard them talking about Saint Petersburg, so I figured I'd come up to Russia and see what the Federales and you Americans are up to. I highly doubted the intelligence community knew about the Los Enemigo Cartel," he said bitterly. "But I guess they do."

She leaned against the counter in the kitchen, as Franks sat in the dining room. "They know. But the details are very sketchy at best. I don't know why I'm in here. The Vonakov family…"

"What is the NCIS connection to this?"

"US Sailor was killed on leave in Marseille. His brother in law worked for the oil company Austin is working for. Guy was talking about his trips to Russia back home in Virginia and the mafia didn't really like that. Gibbs and Shepard took care of the guy who killed him and that's when NCIS thought we should have some eyes and ears in the oil company."

"And the Vonakov family?"

Macy shrugged. "Somebody has to get the proof."

Mike Franks got up and headed for the door. "Your mess to clean up, Macy."

"Yeah. Thanks for your help, Franks. Next time don't scare me like that."

"Should have been watching your six."

She glared at him and Franks walked out the door. Macy thought about the conversation. She still couldn't believe that the one person she would run into in Russia was Mike Franks. Bastard. She didn't stay in the kitchen long. Went into the bathroom, took the safe out, and put the contents in her purse. And then Macy went to the bank and put it in a safety deposit box under the Canadian alias, Maci Smith. She had a gut feeling that this deposit box might just save her ass.

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><p><strong>I thought that it wouldn't be too far fetched that Franks and Macy knew each other. Franks investigated Shannon and Kelly's death and Macy was the one who interrogated Gibbs after he killed Pedro Hernandez, so they would have probably crossed paths at some point. And in my AU, Franks knows that Macy hid the evidence she had against Gibbs.<br>**


	5. Chapter 5

**AN: I don't own NCIS or NCIS:LA**

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><p>Two months later, Macy was walking home from the drug store to the apartment. Thinking about life and how she REALLY wanted to get out of Russia. She had proof Austin was dirty. A well placed microphone in the bedroom had picked up a conversation he had made about a week ago. She really couldn't believe he was that careless to make a phone conversation like that in their own home. Really?<p>

In the conversation, Austin had said to the woman on the other line: "Nobody is going to find out about your connection to Atonida. Nobody. Not even my partner. This stays between me and you. You have my word that it's not going to get leaked. I wouldn't betray my family."

However, Macy hadn't been able to contact the Paris field office because it seemed like lately, Austin Willis couldn't and wouldn't leave her alone. He was suffocating her. This was the first alone time she had in a while. But that was about to change.

As she rounded the corner onto her street, she heard a loud bang and sparks and fire coming from her apartment. Macy didn't stick around to watch what was going to happen next. She knew Austin Willis was in that apartment. She should report it to NCIS, but she wanted to get the fuck out of Russia. And alive. She'd deal with the repercussions later.

The first thing Macy did was go to the bank and take out the safety deposit box. She exchanged $1,000 of it into Russian currency and another $500 into pesos. She was so glad she listened to her instincts that told her to put her belongings into the deposit box. Thankfully, the tape recorder had been in her purse. The next thing Macy did was get on a train to Riga, Latvia. Busiest place in the Baltic. By the time NCIS realized her body wasn't in that apartment, they'd be scouring through camera footage at airports across Russia.

From there, she would fly from Riga to Mexico City, hopefully. She really hoped that it offered flights to Mexico City, but she figured she would probably have to go through a connecting flight in Amsterdam or Frankfurt, Germany. She didn't want to travel to big international airports, because they would most likely have facial recognition software. From Mexico City she planned to travel to the Palo Verde Airport, just north of the town of Mulege.

During the nine hour train ride from Saint Petersburg to Riga, Macy didn't sleep a wink. Couldn't. Too hyper-sensitive. She had made it out of Russia alive, but she now hoped she could make it out of Europe, alive.

However, there was a familiar face waiting for her at the train station in Riga. The fucking guy from the party two and a half months ago.

"I see you're getting out of Europe, awfully quickly," he mentioned as she looked at him. She didn't have any luggage or clothes.

"Yeah, well. Shit happens," Macy replied to him as they kept walking. "Explain how you're at a train station in Riga, Latvia, waiting for me."

He shrugged. "Actually, I wasn't. I was waiting on a contact, who didn't show. But I heard about the apartment."

"How?" It had been nine hours since the bombing. If the Vonakov family was behind this, they obviously had the connections to get the word spread around, but nine hours was awfully quick. Macy turned to face him. "Who the fuck are you?"

"We're on the same side, Macy," he replied softly. "Same side."

"Sure doesn't seem like it," she fired back, as they walked through the main terminal. Her plan was to get a cab to the airport in Riga.

The agent looked at her. "Going somewhere?"

"Yeah. The fuck out of Europe."

"Off the grid?"

"What else am I supposed to do? Go back to DC? There isn't an instruction manual for this. My apartment was just blown up, my partner dead and my cover blown. Fucking rights I'm going off the grid."

He looked at her. "You know your partner was dirty."

Macy held up the tape recorder. She had put it in her purse as soon as she got the proof. Guys did not look through purses, usually. She had another one in there, but it got blown up. "Proof."

"Stay low, Macy. Stay low."

"If we're on the same side, don't be going back to DC and saying I was at a train station in Latvia. They think I'm dead and by the time they realize my body wasn't in that apartment, I'm going to be long gone for a while. Just a word of advice."

"Or what?"

"When I get back to DC, I am going to find who you are."

He laughed. "I figured that. Stay safe."

Twenty two hours later, she was walking up the drive to a secluded beach house in Mexico that only a few people knew about. Macy knew about the local cantina so she asked Camila, the young bartender, where Franks' house was and Camila pointed her in the direction.

She was exhausted. Physically and mentally exhausted. She had purchased some clothes at the KLA airport in Amsterdam and some more in Mexico City. So far nobody had tried to kill her way to the only safe place she could think of. Mike Franks.

"How did you find me?" Franks asked gruffly when he saw her coming. He was bent over an old truck that Macy figured was older than her. Impossible to get going but Franks kept working at it.

"Local girl at the cantina. Camila?" Macy said, walking up to the truck.

"How'd you find the cantina?" He gave her a disapproving glance.

Macy smiled, the first time in a couple of days. "You might have mentioned something about living south of Mulege."

Franks shook his head. "What are you doing here?"

"Apartment got blown up."

The retired agent stood up to his full height and backed away from the ancient truck. "Your apartment got blown up?"

She nodded. "Austin was in it. I don't know if whoever blew it up, thought I was in there."

"They're going to be looking for you and they're going to be awfully pissed when they don't find your body," Franks commented.

Macy looked at him. "You don't think I know that?"

Franks looked her over again. "Why here?"

"You're on the short list."

"Didn't know you were a fan."

She looked at him and glared. "My dad trusts you. That's all that matters. Don't exactly have anybody to trust right now."

Franks nodded and light a cigarette. He handed her one and a lighter, she took it. "Are you sure you can handle what they're going to throw at you?"

"You underestimate me, Mike. I did get out of Russia alive."

"That you did, Lara."

Macy exhaled the smoke. She rarely smoked but after the days from hell… she needed it. "I saw the guy."

"What guy?"

"The guy who burned me at the party three months ago."

She had Franks' attention now. "Where?" He demanded.

"The train station in Riga. He said that he knew about the apartment, but that was only nine hours after. He claimed he was meeting a contact who didn't show."

"Oh you're in big trouble now, Macy," Franks said.

Macy shrugged. "Maybe, maybe not." She sincerely hoped "whoever the hell he was" would not be going back to DC and saying he saw her and she was alive. And Macy was determined to find out his real identity.


	6. Chapter 6

**AN: Don't own NCIS or NCIS: LA**

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><p>It was the next afternoon and Macy and Franks sat out on his porch, looking out at the ocean in front of them. It would have been rather peaceful, Macy decided, if she wasn't on the run for her life. Right about this time in Russia, somebody would be finding out that there was only one body in that apartment. And NCIS would start an international manhunt for Macy, once word got back to them.<p>

"You know, your father saved my ass one time," Franks said, breaking the silence. They hadn't spoken much since Macy had gotten there. He had given her clean sheets for the spare room and headed off to the cantina, leaving Macy to think. By the time that he had returned, Macy had gone to bed.

Macy smiled at the memory of her father. She loved that man so much. She was a "daddy's girl", through and through. Her mama had been so excited to have a girl, after three boys, but once they put Lara in her daddy's arms, her mama knew Lara belonged to him. It had been that way ever since. Her daddy had taught her how to hunt, shoot, fix cars, just like her brothers. Despite all of this, and being the head of the Marine Corps Base Hawaii, where Macy grew up, he was not impressed at her decision to join the Corps. "I bet he did."

Franks nodded. "More than once. Good man, your father is. You should be thankful he's your father."

"I'm a lucky girl."

Franks took a pull from his Corona beer. "How's your brothers?"

"Jason just got back from Bosnia. He's a damn good doctor. Wes is still over there and well Kevin is deployed somewhere. I guess being a SEAL gives you the right to not talk to your family," she said bitterly. Kevin and her did not get a long, to say the least.

"Your old man had to have some feelings about his daughter joining the Corps."

Macy raised her eyebrows, and laughed. "Some? We didn't talk until I got back from boot camp." She took another sip of her own beer. She was thankful she was back in Mexico, drinking half way decent beer because you couldn't find any sort of decent beer in Russia. All that was drank over there was vodka. Macy was sure she wasn't going to drink any more vodka for a long time.

"Are you prepared for the gauntlet you're going to have to run through once they find out you're alive?" Franks asked.

She nodded. "I am. I'm ready."

"There's going to be an awful lot of questions asked up there," Franks commented.

Macy sighed and looked out at the Pacific Ocean. "Only thing is that I might not be able to answer them all."

"What do you mean?"

"The person who authorized this op and sent Austin and me on it was the Director of NCIS."

Franks' eyebrows were raised. "Haller sent you on this op?"

"Uh-huh."

"No wonder why you got into so much trouble, Frankie."

Macy looked at the retired agent. She knew there was no love lost between the Director of NCIS, Michael "Mick" Haller Jr., and Franks. They hated each other and Macy suspected Haller was probably one of the reasons Franks "retired." "Russia's not exactly a friendly place."

"Lara, you should have turned down that op," Franks scolded. Macy had heard him call her by her first name maybe once before. If that. It was always "Mace" or "Frankie," after her father, Frank Macy. "If Haller was and is running this, it was a suicide mission from the start."

"As if I had a choice, Mike. He would have made damn well sure my career would be over if I hadn't taken it. You know that."

"Shouldn't have taken it."

"McCallister was in on it too."

Mike Franks' raised his eyebrows. He could tolerate Riley McCallister but Franks was a big enough person to admit that he failed when it came to technology, but McCallister wouldn't even bother to learn about technology. "There's part of your problem."

Macy changed the subject. "You know Morrow is next in line?" Assistant Director of NCIS Tom Morrow was a good agent and a good bureaucrat. Macy had no problem with Morrow running the show.

"Anybody's better than Mick Haller. You got a boy back home?"

"A little busy for that, Mike."

"So?"

Macy's eyebrows were raised. "You're not married," she pointed out. "The job has its hazards, and one of them is the fact there is no way in fucking hell somebody can manage a relationship."

"A boy would just get you off your career path, anyways."

Macy just looked at him. He had a point.

"You do have a career path, right?"

"10 year plan?"

"Yeah, that's what I'm talking about. A girl like you ought to have one."

Macy took that as a compliment. Franks didn't give out compliments often, and when he did, they were backhanded compliments like the one just made. It did make her feel good that a respected agent like that thought highly of her and where her career was going. "Yeah, I got one."

"You know, we all make mistakes, here and there."

"Even you?"

"Even me."

"Which mistake are you talking about? Now or the one I supposedly made in 1991."

Franks just looked at her. "Gibbs still doesn't know."

"Know that I've been protecting him all these years? I was just doing my job!" Macy argued. Her mind flashed back to 1991, when she was a green Lieutenant MP at Camp Pendleton and her second big case as lead investigator was Leroy Jethro Gibbs.

"The man lost his wife and child."

"And I was just doing my job," Macy fired back. "And in the end, I didn't. You know that too."

Franks nodded. "I would have done the same thing."

"Interrogated him so hard or buried the evidence?"

"Both."

Macy was silent for a minute. "Good to know. I will definitely share that with Gibbs the next time I see him."

Franks laughed. "Let me know when you two meet, and I'll buy a plane ticket. I wanna see it."

* * *

><p>NCIS Director Michael "Mick" Haller Jr., hung up the phone after talking to the government officials in Saint Petersburg, Russia. It had been determined there was only one body in that apartment NCIS had set up for Austin Willis and Lara Macy. The body was burnt beyond recognition but they could confirm it was male. Dental records would take a few weeks to confirm the body as NCIS Special Agent Austin James Willis, formerly of Checotah, Oklahoma.<p>

For an international incident that just happened, Russian officials didn't seen too overly concerned that a NCIS agent was dead and the other agent on that op was now missing. And that bugged Haller. A lot. Actually, it didn't just bug him, it downright pissed him off. Partially is because he was the one who authorized the fucking operation.

Mick pressed the button to his secretary. "Get me Morrow. And McCallister. No, just Morrow."

"Right away, Director."

Mick was heavy in thought when Assistant Director Tom Morrow strode into the office. "You wanted to see me, Mick?" Mick and Morrow had been friends for a long time and when it was just the two of them, they called each other by their first names.

"They finally got inside the apartment," Mick said slowly.

"And?" Morrow was bracing himself for bad news. Macy was a bright young agent and it would be a damn shame to lose her.

Mick sighed. "Special Agent Lara Macy was not in that apartment. They only found one body, and it was a male's. Waiting on dental records, but that will take some time."

Morrow was processing this information. "Macy's alive?"

Mick shrugged. "I don't know. As of right now, she's missing."

"Last time contacted?"

"A week and a half ago, regular phone call. She failed to make the call that she was supposed to make yesterday. That's when the field office in Paris called Willis and no answer. Called their satellite phones, no luck. They sent an agent this morning to check it out and found the apartment incinerated."

Morrow ran his hand over his face. "Do you think they know?"

"Know what?"

"That this op was a bust from the start? Damn it, Mick! You, McCallister and I all knew this mission was a suicide mission. The main goal of that mission was to find out who was selling secrets. We damn well knew it was Austin Willis, we just needed the proof."

"Well, I don't know Tom!" Mick yelled back. "Do you think Macy knows?"

Morrow laughed and lowered his voice.. "Macy? Absolutely. There was a reason I recommended her for this ridiculous op. She's smarter than you give her credit for, Mick."

"Then we have a big problem."

"You didn't think she wouldn't find out, Mick?" Morrow said in a voice, that said Mick should have known. "She was our best hope at getting proof."

"Still is. She's missing. My next step is to flag her real identity and her alias. If she's high tailing it out of Russia, we'll find her."

Morrow shook her head. "She's a good agent, Mick. Lara Macy has gone underground, if she's not already dead and the Vonakov family got to her. Which is a real possibility."

Mick sighed. "Should we call Hetty?"

"As in Hetty Lange, Hetty?" Morrow's jaw dropped.

Mick nodded.

"Mick, you only call in the Duchess of Deception when you need something cleaned up. We don't know if Macy is dead."

"This needs to be cleaned up before it gets back to the Hill. If they find out, they'll be asking for my resignation in 24 hours. I want to get to the bottom of this and find out who Austin was selling secrets to. Hetty Lange is our best option."

"You're calling in the cleaning crew? You got balls Mick."

"What do you suggest I do, Tom? I have an agent dead and an agent who is probably dead, most likely from the worst crime syndicate family around!"

Morrow sighed. "What's Hetty's last known location?"

"Saransk, Russia."

"It's your call, Mick. But they'll be starting to ask questions when they find out there is a NCIS agent dead and a NCIS agent missing. And you're going to have to answer those when they find out the Director of NCIS personally authorized this suicide op," Morrow said before walking out of the room. Mick Haller had balls by calling in the cleaning crew, known as Hetty Lange. She was their best, or the CIA's, best asset in Europe, even after the Iron Curtain had fallen.


	7. Chapter 7

**AN: Don't own NCIS or NCIS:LA**  
><strong>Thanks for the reviews!<strong>

* * *

><p>Macy woke up in a cold sweat and screaming. The visions that were filling her mind were what nobody, ever, should have to endure. But she knew she wasn't the only one who was having those nightmares in the middle of the night. Her Marines were probably experiencing the same fucking thing.<p>

Franks rushed in with a gun beside his side, when he heard the screaming. "What's wrong?"

"Sorry for waking you. Just nightmares."

"Get 'em often?"

Macy sighed. "Yeah."

Franks left for a minute and returned with a cold face cloth and pressed it against her forehead and her breathing returned to normal. "Good to know you're human," Franks laughed. "Beginning to think you had no emotions."

"Oh I have them," Macy replied.

"Wanna talk about it?"

She looked at him. "Not really."

"It helps."

Macy took a deep breath and began. "I was a Captain in the Corps. Working as an MP and we were assigned to Bosnia and to protect our base. We had to go in a UN convoy to escort a General back to wherever the hell he was going. I don't remember. We had to go through Sniper Alley. Saw two people killed that day."

"That's not what you're nightmare is about."

She looked at the retired agent. "You're right. I… we had to take the long way back to base and it was just our convoy. We were going through some bad areas and my driver spotted a guy with a gun just outside a clearing. I ordered him down that dirt road and we happened to stumble across one of the biggest mass graves there was. There was men just chucking bodies into it. Like nothing."

"Ethnic cleansing," Franks commented.

"Huge firefight to get there. The bodies were just piled on there. We called it in and had to get out of there. My men couldn't take it."

"Nobody is expected to make it through something like that and be okay," Franks said, sitting on the edge of the bed.

Macy swallowed. "I guess. I still have the nightmares of the men chucking bodies into the graves." Macy had told Franks more than she had told her family, friends, her own men, hell even her therapist the Corps required her to see.

* * *

><p>9 days later, Macy was packing her bags in Franks' beach house. She figured it was safe to travel back. Well, it still wasn't safe but she had to return to DC. As much as she loved being near the Ocean, she knew she couldn't hide out in Mexico forever.<p>

"Leavin'?"

"Gonna take the bus to Cabo and get on a plane there."

Franks nodded and took a gun out of the back of his pants. "You're gonna need this."

"Thanks, Mike. For everything."

Franks showed a rare sign of affection to her and gave her a hug. "I normally don't like visitors, but, well… you can come visit anytime, Frankie."

"Thanks again," Macy said.

Franks grabbed her bag. "Ah, come on. I'll give you a ride to the bus station."

Eight and a half hours later, Macy was waiting in line to check into a pretty good hotel in Cabo San Lucas, Mexico. A very cute guy was behind her, also waiting in line and he spoke first. "What are you doing in Cabo?"

Macy turned around and smiled. "Best friend and I from college decided to come down to Cabo and party it up."

"Ah, college friends are always good for that."

"Yeah. She's flying down tomorrow. What are you here for?"

"Brother's wedding," he smiled at her. "Brendan Jenner," he held out his hand and she shook it. She was surprised to find his grip surprisingly firm.

"Maci Smith."

There was a clerk waiting to help the next in line and Macy was the next in line. "So, do you want to go out and grab a drink?" Brendan asked.

Macy turned around and laughed. "Bold much?" She smiled and went to check in. The first passport she grabbed was the passport in the name of **Amanda Dannor. **To her relief, checking in without a reservation went relatively smooth.

Brendan was still waiting in line when she passed him. "Hotel bar. Hour," and she walked away. An hour later, she was sitting at the bar, drinking beer. Brendan sat beside her quietly and laughed, alerting her of his presence.

"I didn't take you as a beer drinker," Brendan observed. He ordered a beer for himself.

Macy laughed. "There's a lot of things that people don't get about me."

"So. How about we start off with, where you from?" Brendan asked.

She laughed. "Virginia. Work in DC."

He raised an eyebrow. "I didn't take you as a person who works in DC. What do you do? Government?"

"Private security firm," Macy lied. She was surprised at how easily the lies rolled off her tongue. But she shouldn't have been surprised because she was undercover for three months. Lying and twisting the truth was all Macy knew now.

"Ottawa, Canada. Work for the Department of Defence."

Macy raised an eyebrow. "You? A bureaucrat?"

He shrugged. "Work closely with the UN so I travel a lot."

"Huh."

He turned to her. "You used a fake name to check in as? Or the name you told me was fake? I didn't think private security work was that dangerous?"

Macy sucked in her breath. Fuck, this guy was good. "Actually I'm on the run from an ex. He's a detective with Metro PD. Messy breakup. But the story about the best friend is true."

"I can help you with the ex," Brendan offered.

Macy smiled. "I'll let you have a stab at him, after my 3 older brothers and my Marine Corps father finish with him."

"Marine Corps brat?"

She smiled again. "You bet. 3 years in the Corps," that was first thing that was true that she told him. Yeah, she did have 3 older brothers and a Marine Corps father but she would never let them take a stab at one of her exes. Well, and the fact that, she didn't have many exes. Too career motivated and busy to mess around with guys. Her last "serious" relationship was when she was 18. And 18, relationships weren't all that serious.

For two hours and several drinks later, Brendan and Macy talked about everything under the sun. A lot of lies were told but Macy genuinely had a good time. He had asked for her number after she told him she was going to bed. She did give him her number that was her private line. However, she told him to call her in a week because she left her phone while on vacation.

Twenty nine hours later, Lara Macy was touching down at Ronald Reagan airport. She had traveled from Cabo to Mexico City, and from Mexico City, to Washington DC, with a 6 hour layover in Oklahoma City. Shit was seriously going to go down and heads were going to roll.

* * *

><p><strong>AN: I thought it would be good to make Macy a little more "human." I'm honestly winging it with this story, but there will be a pretty big twist with this Brendan Jenner character. Let's just say, he's not who he says he is.<strong> **Macy's not the only one lying.**  
><strong>And next chapter will have her show down with the Director of NCIS, who sent her on the op. Should be interesting... And how will she find out who the guy was from the party and the train station?<br>**


	8. Chapter 8

**AN: Here it** **is**.**... ****With a twist.**  
><strong>And again, I don't own NCIS or NCIS: LA.<strong>

* * *

><p>The next morning at 10 am, Macy arrived at the NCIS head office at the naval base. She somehow managed to get to the Director's office without being seen by her former team. She marched straight into the Director's office, without knocking. She ignored the "you can't go in there," by his receptionist.<p>

Mick Haller's jaw dropped when he saw Macy. "You're alive."

"That's all you're going to say?" Macy demanded, walking up to his desk after she closed the door. "You send me on a suicide mission and that's all you say?"

"What do you want me to say, Agent Macy?" Mick retorted. He turned to his phone and pressed the button to connect him to his receptionist. "Get me Morrow. Immediately."

"Need somebody to back you up, Mick?" Macy said. She swallowed and looked the Director in the eye. "I will, personally, make sure your career is ruined after this."

Agent Tom Morrow opened the door and his jaw dropped as well. "Macy? How?"

"Did you really underestimate me, Director, Morrow?" Macy turned to Morrow. "Did you not think I could make it out of there alive?"

"11 days, missing. Russia. You were investigating the Vonakov family. Excuse us if we thought you were dead," Morrow replied.

Macy took a deep breath. "You sent me on a suicide mission with a dirty agent."

"Dirty?" Mick said.

She turned to the Director. "Really? You knew that. That's why you sent me on this mission. However, unlike you, I have proof."

"What kind of proof?" Morrow asked.

Macy pulled out the tape recorder out of her purse and set it on Mick's desk. "Your proof."

"You have proof?" Mick's voice was laden with surprise.

She laughed. "That's not all I found."

"Go on."

She pulled an envelope out of her purse. "Austin James Willis was adopted."

"What?" Morrow said, in surprise.

Macy looked at both men. "I had a layover in Oklahoma City, so I figured I'd drive down to Checotah. Imagine my surprise when I asked for city hall and asked for his birth certificate and his mother's name was not Deborah Willis."

Mick and Morrow exchanged looks. "Who?"

"Oksana Vonakov."

Mick's jaw dropped. "Oksana Vonakov? The daughter of Petrov and Atonida, and Dmitry's sister? She died."

"That's what we all thought. She faked her death to get away from her family. I stopped by the hospital and talked to a nurse who, 34 years ago, was a labor and delivery nurse when Austin was born. Oksana was 18 and desperately wanted to get away from her family. She bribed a government official and came over here. She placed him up for adoption. It was a closed adoption but she left a name behind for Deborah and Don Willis. She changed her name to Jessica Zetrov."

"You talked to her, didn't you?" Morrow asked.

Macy nodded. "This morning. Jessica Zetrov is now Jessica Collins and living in Madras, Oregon with her husband, Clay Collins, and has 2 kids. She changed her name to get away from her family and placed her son up for adoption so he wouldn't be subject to the Vonakov's ways."

"But Atonida didn't believe her daughter was dead. She found Austin."

"He double crossed us. Everything you need to know is on that tape recorder."

Mick ground his jaw. One of his agents was a spy for the Vonakov family, one of the biggest families in the world. "How did you get away? Where were you?"

Macy shrugged. "I was safe."

"Where?" Morrow asked.

"Argentina," she lied.

Morrow just gave her a look that told her he didn't believe her for a minute. "Right. You need to write all of this up. Every detail."

"After I have a meeting with the Secretary of the Navy. And explain to him that the Director of NCIS sent me on an op, that was a suicide mission already, NCIS had no reason to be investigating, and expected me to work with a dirty agent. That you already knew was a dirty agent, but needed the proof."

Mick was speechless for a minute. "You have a meeting with the Secretary of the Navy?" Mick Haller knew his career was over. They'd be asking for his resignation within 24 hours, if not firing him. He fucked up big time, and Lara Macy was going to make sure everybody knew it too. He honestly didn't really blame the agent. After all, he had sent her on this op and he was responsible for it all.

"Helps when your father is the good friend of SecNav. He also happens to be my godfather."

* * *

><p>The next day, Director Tom Morrow, called her up to his new office. "Macy. Finished your report?"<p>

"Almost done. You do realize, there is a lot to write down."

Morrow smiled. "Sit down. And yes, I do realize that."

"No offense sir, but it's going to be weird calling you Director."

"It's a little weird, even to me. Macy, I need you to finish what you started."

Macy knew exactly what Morrow was doing. He was sending her back to Russia. "Hell no."

"Sorry, Macy. But we don't believe your cover was blown. We reviewed the tape recorder and who he was speaking to was Larissa Gorachov, a lawyer for the oil company that Austin was working for and the Vonakov family had people in. We don't think they know your name."

"You want me to still get close to Katya and Dmitry?"

Morrow nodded. "Yes."

"Alone?"

"No. The CIA has an agent they'd like to send along," Morrow said and passed her a file. Macy opened it and the face made her want to faint. The fucking guy from the party and the train station. His name was G Callen. "You look like you saw a ghost."

"Sorry," Macy quickly said. "Do you know anything about this agent?"

Morrow shrugged. "Comes very highly recommended. I think you'd work well together. You know him?"

"Not really," Macy said. She wasn't going to tell the Director about those conversations. She still didn't believe her cover was blown. She still believed that he was just warning her that Austin was dirty. But she had a few questions for Agent Callen. One of them being how the hell he knew her first name.

"You leave tomorrow," Morrow said and passed her another file. Oh this was going to get interesting. Even more interesting was the fact that Hetty Lange was her new handler.


End file.
